Venezia, Firenze, Roma!

Three cities, eight days, and a route that has defined the Italian grand tour for centuries — this is the kind of trip that makes a classroom map suddenly feel real. Your group arrives on Venice Lido and spends the first full day absorbing the canals, the bridges, and the sheer improbability of a city built on water. A glassblowing demonstration gives students a hands-on look at a craft the Venetian island of Murano has refined since the thirteenth century, watching molten glass become art in real time. From there, the itinerary moves south to Florence, where the Renaissance stopped being a chapter title and started being something you can stand in front of. Day five is a full day in the city, enough time to absorb the Arno, the Duomo's scale, and — time permitting — a stop at Leonardo's Leather Workshop, where traditional Florentine leatherworking is still practiced in ways that trace directly back to the city's medieval guild economy.